S&P 500 - All posts tagged S&P 500

U.S. stocks had a mixed day with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both inching higher while the Dow lost ground amid geopolitical uncertainty.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.6 points, or 0.04% to close at 22,349.59. The S&P 500, meanwhile, gained 1.62 points, or 0.06%, while the Nasdaq added 4.73 points, or 0.07% to end the day at just below 6,427.

Earlier this week, all three major stock benchmarks hit new all-time highs, but suffered today and yesterday as tension with North Korea resurged following President Trump’s speech before the UN.

Still, the S&P 500 and the Dow still booked weekly gains, while the Nasdaq fell 0.3% this week

Looking across the broader market, it was a mixed day of sectors and industries. Six of the 11 sectors comprising the S&P 500 ended the day in the green, led by telecom with a 1.3% gain. The Energy sector, tracked by the iShares U.S. Energy ETF (IYE), followed with a 0.5% increase led by the likes of Hess (HES) and Halliburton (HAL).

Healthcare stocks tracked by the iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF (IYH) initially fell, revered course and ended the session higher after Sen. John McCain announced he would vote against the Graham-Cassidy bill.

On the flip side of the ledger, financial, real estate, utilities, materials and consumer staples all inched lower.

U.S. stock indices extended yesterday’s losses, with the Dow on track to end the week in the red. In fact, the stock benchmark is now down almost 2% off the record high it hit on Aug. 7.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 52 points, or 0.24% to 21,697.83 and the S&P 500 fell four points, or 0.14% to 2425.98. The Nasdaq Composite declined 5.8 points, or 0.09% to 6216.39.

Yesterday, stocks sank, with the Dow losing 270 points amid more turmoil in the Trump Administration and a terrorist attack in Barcelona that killed 13 people. It was the biggest decline for the benchmark in three months.

So far, today appear to be a much calmer day. No big economic reports are scheduled for release and there are few corporate earnings reports. Still, some of those earnings reports are delivering big stock price moves, especially among retailers and athletic apparrel makers.

Shifting expectations on the direction of the European Central Bank drove some of today’s gains, according to Bill Stone, global chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management Group.

Stocks seem to have gotten some help from the ECB. Draghi’s comments were interpreted as very hawkish yesterday and officials today backed away from looking at them as a large change in view from the top of the ECB. While asset purchases will likely be trimmed in 2018, markets are less worried about a quicker exit strategy.

But Evercore ISI’s Dennis DeBusschere pegged it as a bigger reflationary move.

When I add up all the internals of the market today, it is reflationary move (inflation expectations higher, oil prices higher and USD lower). Point being, something might be changing on the expected economic growth backdrop globally. At least the threat of some upside data surprises going forward, which would mean the focus will shift to the better growth as a driver of rates/reflation instead of tone shift in central bank commentary. As an example, the Euro and German rates are higher despite ECB officials attempt to walk back Draghi’s seemingly “hawkish” comments yesterday.

Goldman Sachs strategist David Kostin took some of the edge off worries of a big drop ahead when he raised his year-end price target for the S&P 500 to 2400 from 2300. Granted, that is a slight drop from where the index now trades. But Kostin says higher EPS estimates suggest less downside risk ahead.

Meanwhile, markets will also be watching for progress, or the lack of it, on major policy initiatives in Congress ahead of their planned August recess. Biotech stocks were hit hard yesterday by news that the Senate had delayed a vote on legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Those pesky tech stocks are at it again. The Dow futures have declined nearly 100 points, pointing to a down day for the market, and the Nasdaq has fallen even harder as investors resumed selling big-cap tech stocks.

The tech-laden Nasdaq dropped 1.1%, or 64 points to 5,668.7, while the S&P 500 futures fell 0.67% to 2,419. The Dow futures fell 0.4% to 21,228.

The S&P 500 dropped yesterday in choppy trading after the Fed announced its latest rate hike and plans to shrink its balance sheet. The rate hike was expected but investors are worried that the Fed won’t act aggressively going forward given weak inflation and other tepid economic data.

U.S. stock indices initially rose, but then gave up those gains after the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point and unveiled plans to begin shrinking its balance sheet starting this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell five points, or 0.02% to 21,320, paring back earlier gains that lifted the benchmark more than 40 points. But the S&P 500 dropped 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.5%, or 32.5 points.

The rate hike was as expected, with policy makers voting to raise interest rates to a range of 1% to 1.25%, despite weaker inflation and some signs of economic softening. The central bank still sees the economy reaching its 2% inflation goal.

The Fed still eyes one more rate hike this year, highlighting a rosier job market.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury ticked higher following the announcement, rising to 2.133% from 2.10% earlier today data showed a negative turn for consumer price inflation and retails sales. Bond prices fall as yield rise.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 75.3 points, or 0.35%, to 21,311.02, briefly climbing to 21,318.4, an all-time high intraday. The S&P 500 added seven points to 2,436.9, a gain of 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.56% to 6,211.12, a gain of 0.58%.

Some investors said they weren’t surprised to see stocks that had been hit rebound quickly. Corporate earnings have been strong, especially for technology companies, which has helped stocks keep climbing this year. That has in turn led many investors to view pullbacks in stocks as buying opportunities, rather than reason to retreat.

Tech shares fell sharply on Friday and Monday, pressuring the broader market. But energy and financial stocks rose amid the turmoil, leading the likes of Nuveen’s Bob Doll to claim that the market was poised for a leadership shift.

Nevertheless, the S&P is within nine points of its 52-week high, while the Nasdaq is 2% below its own summit.

The Dow climbed 135 points just a day after a selloff that ended as one of the worse days in months for the U.S. stock market.

The Dow rose 0.65% in recent action to 20,741, and the S&P 500 0.7% to 2,374. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, gained 0.97% to trade at 6,070.

As one might expect, the so-called fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 6.5% to 14.58.Positive employment figures and other economic data helped lift investor confidence shaken recently by the political drama out of the Trump administration.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended a turmoil filled session down almost 373 points. Yet the Nasdaq Composite had the biggestselloff, falling 2.57%, and Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge soared

The Dow closed at 20,606.9 after falling 1.78%, and the S&P 500 fell 43.6 points, or 1.82% to end at 2,357. It was the biggest one-day loss for either index since September.

The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, plunged more than 158 points to close at 6,011.2, its biggest loss since June.

Blame it on the ever-growing political drama in Washington, D.C. and waning confidence in President Trump’s ability to pass tax cuts, financial reforms and his other pro-growth policies.

“From an investor’s point of view, the problem is not the turmoil, not the potential constitutional issues, and not even the ongoing tug of war between Republicans and Democrats,” says Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network. “The problem is that the markets have expected significant policy action on the economy, and such action is looking less likely by the day given the many political items that need to be resolved first.”

Financial stocks in particular were pummeled, with the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) retreating almost 4% and the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) losing 3.1%, with shares of allof the bog banks also ending in the red.

Bank of America (BAC) fell 5.9%, followed by Morgan Stanley (MS) and Citigroup (C), down 5.5% and 4% respectively.

Tech stocks also took a beating. The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) fell 1.4% to $55.35 a share, with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) falling more than 12%.

On the other side of the ledger, Colgate-Palmolive (CL) meanwhile, spiked 5.7% amid continued takeout speculation after a NY Post article reported that CEO Ian Cook was open to a sale.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) spiked to above 15, gaining more than 46%. The index, which is based on options contracts on the S&P 500 index 30 days in the future, fell into the single digits earlier this month, hitting a 24-year low.

About Stocks To Watch

Earnings reports, corporate strategies and analyst insights are all part of what moves stocks, and they’re all covered by the Stocks to Watch blog. We also look at macro issues, investor sentiments and hidden trends that are affecting the market. Stocks to Watch gives you the full picture of the U.S. stock markets, all day long.

The blog is written by Ben Levisohn, a former stock trader who has covered financial markets for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and BusinessWeek.